The Resurrection of Segata Sanshiro (at SEGA FES 2019 at least…)

I have some fond memories of playing the Sega Saturn back in the day; mostly at friend’s houses and the karate studio as I had a PlayStation at home (along with a Genesis and Game Gear). I had fun playing Nights: Into Dreams, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Sonic Jam (believe it or not), Sega Rally, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and the like. Now, we are approaching the 25th anniversary of the Sega Saturn’s launch in Japan, and Sega’s going to turn back time and bring back a “dead” character.

At this year’s Sega FES roadshow — which will occur in at Bellesalle, Akihabara in Tokyo on the weekend of March 30th and 31st — to celebrate the Saturn’s 25th anniversary, Sega will have numerous stands and displays celebrating the Saturn, its numerous classic titles, Q&A sessions with developers and an appearance by the Saturn’s legendary marketing mascot Segata Sanshiro (Hiroshi Fujioka).

OK, so some background and context might be needed here. The entertaining fictional character appeared in numerous hilarious Sega Saturn television and radio commercials in Japan — like the one where he wipes out an entire nightclub, and the one where he tells children to stop studying and play Saturn — as a parody of the Sanshiro Sugata character from Akira Kurosawa’s classic film of the same name. You can check out some some of these classic ads in the playlist above, courtesy of Saturn Memories.